Inter-African scholarship program (INTERAF)

Evaluation covers the period from 5/76 to 12/79 and is based on reports from and discussions with the implementing agency, the Association of African Universities (AAU), and previous evaluations. The recent growth of African educational institutions has lessened the need for INTERAF. New starts have been fewer than expected (due to political and civil unrest in such countries as Ethiopia, Uganda and Ghana), while terminations and dropouts have been higher than expected. In addition, most students have taken longer than four years to obtain their degrees. As a result, the 1976 PAR reduction of the target number of students to 1,234 (from the PROP estimate of 1,535) has been further reduced to 1,040. No new students have been admitted since 1975 and the project is being phased out. Despite increases in AAU administration costs, overall costs have been lower than planned. Through 1978, 879 students from 33 countries received training at 41 institutions in agriculture, public health, education, basic science, economics, and other priority areas. The repatriation rate has been almost 100%, though little is known of the use of returned graduates, making assessment of the project goal difficult. AAU management, while not wholly satisfactory, has been commendable in the face of communication and logistic difficulties, and AAU contracts with African universities have strengthened inter-university relations. AAU"s annual report for 1978-79 is overdue, however, and should be submitted at once. In addition, A.I.D. and AAU should collaborate on planning AAU"s completion report. Included in the report, a copy of which should be sent to all cooperating countries and to all USAID"s in Africa, should be statistics and analyses on dropouts and repeaters, student-years and fields of study, and countries of origin, as well as a list of the current employment status of graduates.